Filmmaker Tim Moen, who calls himself the Fort Mac Philosopher (as in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada) writes a thoughtful blog on his recent experience with Neil Young and Daryl Hannah.
Moen was asked to film some aerial footage of the area for Shakey Pictures and Neil’s ongoing Lincvolt documentary.
His provocative blog post takes issues with Neil’s stance on the city’s oilsands. Young compared the northern Alberta oilsands city to Hiroshima after the atomic bomb.
Moen writes:
“All living things consume energy and pollute. Nature is as cruel as it is beautiful. Bacteria and viruses pollute this Earth and for the majority of our history have mercilessly put us in an early grave. Burning wood has improved our lives dramatically by allowing us to ingest more energy at less cost by cooking food and it keeps us warm. Our ability to find and harness energy has caused human life to flourish. Each energy source we innovate is not without it’s detriments. Nearly 2 million people die prematurely each year in developing countries from inhaling cooking smoke, what they wouldn’t give for the comparatively clean energy of coal generated electricity.
“People in developing countries generally care very little about the environmental standards we care about, they are too busy trying to survive to worry about their carbon footprint or how many blooms their community gets. The good news is that the richer a country gets the more environmentally conscious it tends to get and the cleaner and more efficient its energy tends to become. This investment in clean technology requires wealth, and wealth requires energy abundance.
“Neil Young himself proves this point in a number of ways. He is able to fight off the polluting secretions invading his sons lungs that would otherwise kill him if not for a fortuitous chain of events starting with the industrial revolution and all the wealth that it brought to the world that allowed a man enough free time to pursue a thing called rock stardom and afford round the clock care for his boy extending his life. His wealth also allowed him to pay a team of engineers and specialists to retrofit a classic car into a technological green marvel. His wealth allows him to pay for the energy expenditure to get cellulosic ethanol shipped from the one plant in the US that makes it to wherever his Lincvolt is. His wealth allows him to traverse the world with his entourage spreading the gospel of green. His wealth affords a helicopter to fly around and film him and that is okay. I promise you I do not mean this facetiously; getting to the cutting edge of cleaner technology creates a lot of pollution…always has. That’s why I don’t consider it hypocritical of Neil to preach clean energy while creating a bunch of pollution and why I’d like him to grant the rest of us the same consideration. We are conscientious adults with the same goals he has.”
He credits both Neil and Daryl afor trying really hard to make a difference in the world.
Moen raises points that will spark healthy debate.
Neil Young on oil sands: ‘Fort McMurray looks like Hiroshima’
Michael Babad, The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Sep. 10 2013, 7:48 AM EDT
Young on oil sands
Canadian rocker Neil Young is wading into the heated debate over the oil sands and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, warning of the health effects on First Nations peoples and the “wasteland” that is Fort McMurray.
Mr. Young, one of Canada’s best-known singer-songwriters since the 1960s, told a conference in Washington yesterday that he recently travelled to Alberta, where “much of the oil comes from, much of the oil that we’re using here, which they call ethical oil because it’s not from Saudi Arabia or some country that may be at war with us.”
He was at a National Farmers Union conference on Capitol Hill meant to support alternative fuels, such as ethanol, which he did at length, slamming Big Oil and talk about his own LincVolt, an old Continental that runs on ethanol and electricity.
Here’s what he said about the oil sands:
“The fact is, Fort McMurray looks like Hiroshima. Fort McMurray is a wasteland. The Indians up there and the native peoples are dying. The fuels all over – the fumes everywhere – you can smell it when you get to town. The closest place to Fort McMurray that is doing the tar sands work is 25 or 30 miles out of town and you can taste it when you get to Fort McMurray. People are sick. People are dying of cancer because of this. All the First Nations people up there are threatened by this.”
TRUCKEE, Calif. — It’s not every day you come across a rock music legend stranded in the Sierra.
But that’s what happened on Friday, Aug. 23, when singer-songwriter Neil Young’s one-of-a-kind, $1 million electric vehicle broke down on Interstate 80 near Donner Summit.
Officers with the Truckee branch of the California Highway Patrol came upon the stranded Young and helped him get off the highway.
After posing for a few photos and signing autographs, Young repaired his custom-built car and was back on the road, said CHP Public Information Officer Pete Mann.
The Canadian-born rock star told CHP he drives the car across North America promoting green, sustainable living and encouraging less dependency on oil. He was on his way to a green festival in Canada, he told officers.
The Toronto native — whose full name is Neil Percival Young — is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer both as a solo artist (inducted in 1995) and as a member of Buffalo Springfield (inducted in 1997).
He is best-known for the songs “Heart of Gold,” Down by the River,” “Cowgirl in the Sand,” “Ohio” and “Rockin’ In The Free World,” among several other major hits.
Chris Hadfield is the guy that chatted also with Neil about LincVolt.
“Chris Hadfield @Cmdr_Hadfield 30 Apr Talked with Neil Young tonight, he in his hybrid 1959 Lincoln, me in a spaceship. Discussed Earth ecology & writing music. A heart of gold.
Chris Hadfield @Cmdr_Hadfield 30 Apr
Good morning, Earth! Yesterday was surreal – a spacewalker on the new $5 & a little guitar w/Neil Young. Time to focus & get back to work! ”
“looks like she ever flew home” by -- by Neil Young \"beautiful bluebird\"
Neil Young on Tour
Sugar Mountain setlists
Tom Hambleton provides BNB with setlists, thankfully. His website is the most comprehensive searchable archives on the Internets about anything Neil Young related setlists. Goto Sugar Mountain.
Filmmaker Tim Moen, who calls himself the Fort Mac Philosopher (as in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada) writes a thoughtful blog on his recent experience with Neil Young and Daryl Hannah.
memphish on 
Albert Stromann on 
liza on 
Baz on 
